Comments on On the career of Dr. Serkan ANILIR: Dr. Anilir's official positions

Dear Armagan, I am not sure if I am qualified to ...

2009-10-15T13:20:54.204+09:00

Dear Armagan,

I am not sure if I am qualified to answer your question, but let me try.

Until recently, national Universities (including the University of Tokyo) were a part of the government and faculties were also government employees. In terms of employment status, I think there was nothing special for University faculties compared to other public servants. Now the system has been changed so that each national University is an "independent" organization. But perhaps not much has changed (yet). Nevertheless, we do have the notion of academic freedom.

Employment (including termination of employment) of faculties is an academic matter and to be decided at Faculty Assembly. It is supposed that others cannot interfere with the decision. Actually, before WW2, there were some famous cases of ousting of faculties due to outside (militarist) pressures. After the WW2, the importance of the academic freedom was emphasized (partly as a reflection of the pre-WW2 situation). However, perhaps "academic freedom" has been eroding slowly since then.

Dear Nakres, It may not be strictly relevant with...

2009-10-14T00:07:50.179+09:00

Dear Nakres,

It may not be strictly relevant with the topic but since you are explaining to us the academic employment situation in Japan, I will have a question.

In Japanese universities, is there a tenure system whereby once you get your tenure then you have a contractual right as a senior academician not to have position terminated without just cause, similar to the North American system?

Is what you mean by a permanent position a certain guarantee against removal from office in order to establish the necessary elbow room for academic freedom and creativity? Or do you use permanent in the sense of public servants, who enjoy a security of lifetime employment until retirement (unless they commit a blatant felony, etc.) by a virtue of working for the state, as is the case in most countries?

To rephrase my question, can anyone outside a university (i.e. government) in Japan put pressure on the faculty board as to who among their academic peers maintain or lose their position?

Dear Ferayebend, As for ISAS job, yes, it is prob...

2009-10-13T22:24:42.927+09:00

Dear Ferayebend,

As for ISAS job, yes, it is probably a normal post-doc.

Concerning Joshu/Jokyo, I understand your question very well. However, the answer is not simple.

All faculty positions including Joshu used to be permanent.
However, recently, some of those positions have been converted to term contract. There is even such a thing as Full Professorship with 5-year contract (although, for more senior positions, more percentage of them remain permanent). Now many of Jokyo positions are termed positions, but still majority of them are permanent I think (I don't have statistics, sorry).

In the case of Dr. Anilir's position, I don't know which is the case. My guess is that it is more likely to be permanent (because architecture is a traditional field and not like biochemistry or information technology, but I don't have much ground). People at the University of Tokyo would know the answer.

dear nakres, the main divide in academic titles ...

2009-10-12T17:52:29.174+09:00

dear nakres,

the main divide in academic titles in the west is being permanent or being temporary employee (e.g. short term contract ranging from 2 to 6 years). my question is, are Jokyo and Joshu both such permanent positions?

and for the ISAS job it sounds like a normal temporary contract post-doc to me.